Having spent about eighteen years in school buildings as a student and twenty-nine years in school buildings as an unarmed teacher, fifteen of them post-Columbine, I think I have a right to voice an opinion on this matter. I'm pretty proficient with firearms, yet I faced each day of teaching knowing that I could easily be shot down right along with my students!

So, school administrators, board members, parents, and anybody else responsible for the kids in your community, is your school safer this week? If it is, great work. Thanks for getting at this important task. If not, WHY not! Are you not angry enough yet? I am angry, and I don’t blame students around the country for being angry. Why would they NOT be angry; they are at risk, and nobody seems interested in actually fixing the problem. And I can’t blame an immature sixteen-year-old for placing all the blame on guns; there are plenty of adults who can’t get past that false notion themselves.

I want to know - are you one of the many school administrators just sitting around this week philosophizing and pontificating over coffee about gun control fantasies and improvements needed in the mental healthcare system? Meanwhile, hundreds of unprotected, innocent young people are streaming into your buildings every morning. Since you’ve probably devoted much of your life to obtaining multiple degrees, you are likely well prepared to be a very confident and polished speaker when the national news stations stick their microphones in your face. But if tragedy strikes YOUR school system next week, next month, next year, tomorrow, are you prepared to sacrifice the lives of your students, all the while knowing that there were some pretty effective preventative measures that could have been taken.

I have a shocking newsflash for you, the 2nd Amendment is not going anywhere, and the mental healthcare system and better background checks are not going to be fixed by next Thursday. How about you do what you can NOW! Just consider me naïve, but I think it’s absolutely stunning that every school system in the country has not scoured its budget this week and trimmed some fat, “fat” that could hire some armed security for their campuses, maybe some stronger doors and windows at access points, along with other forms of real security. And if you think youngsters are going to be traumatized by armed guards, they’ll do just fine. REAL trauma is when somebody is terrorizing them with a bomb or a gun.

I like to think if I were in your position that I would already have been meeting with board members, county commissioners, the mayor, the governor, number crunchers in the systems, teachers, building administrators, etc. on an urgent mission to get my buildings and campus as secure as possible RIGHT NOW! Kids’ lives depend on it. Local police departments, along with parents, reserve deputies, and volunteer veterans, could have a serious impact on your security right now, tomorrow morning, when those precious kids get off the bus or drive into the student parking lot.

As left wing politicians have meetings and strategize how they can use these tragic events to promote their gun control agenda, there are very disturbed individuals out there amongst us right now looking for violent ways to “get even” with the world and be the dominate topic on CNN and Fox News for the next two weeks. Why this is not being addressed in every single school building in the country this week in very practical fashion is just beyond me. We can fret and fight over “gun control” NEXT WEEK. We can work on improving the mental healthcare system NEXT WEEK. We can work on making sure serious mental health history shows up on background checks NEXT WEEK. THIS WEEK is when our kids are sitting ducks in all your “gun free zones” that are “gun free” only until somebody with evil intent shows up with one.

As someone in the news stated this week, “The next school shooter is out there, and he probably has a gun,” which would create a sense of urgency in MY mind if I were at ANY level of responsibility in any school system. And, of course, the threat might not even be a severely disturbed teenager; it might just be a hate-crazed religious fanatic from across the globe with an AK47, or a truck, or a bomb.

How about we get the school buildings and our kids protected NOW!
Sincerely,
Hickok45

Thanks, great thoughts. I've signed up to do my part by getting further hands-on training in school and church safety. What are others here doing that makes small (or big) positive changes in the environment you each control or influence? I find that positive action is needed to keep my attention on the most effective solutions.

G40yes wrote:Thanks, great thoughts. I've signed up to do my part by getting further hands-on training in school and church safety. What are others here doing that makes small (or big) positive changes in the environment you each control or influence? I find that positive action is needed to keep my attention on the most effective solutions.

I train my wife's school and I am trying to get hold of my grandson's superintendent to offer training for his faculty and staff. I'm also bringing our church security team up to speed now that we are legal.

I'm also looking for more personal training. It's hard to find classes that fit my work schedule.